FLIGHT

Okay, Flight gang! Here are the questions from Popimage's Jonathan Ellis for our little group interview. Don't forget about those creator-specific questions!
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General Q’s:
1) How did you get involved with Flight?

2) Tell us about your story and what inspired it?

3) One of strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book? [And just so you know – you all have something very distinct about your styles and your stories that make you perfect for being involved with Flight.]

5) What’s next for you following Flight? [Note-use this Q to pimp yourself to your hearts content – be sure to mention any websites or forthcoming projects you’d like to promote]

Specific Q’s:
Kazu:
So for those still without the first volume how did the whole Flight book come together?

The amount of contributors you have definitely assures future volumes so how did you decide on having the second volume at a page count of 304 pages?

I know you pretty much let the contributors create to their hearts content but were there any restrictions put in place, to keep it suitable for an all ages audience for instance?

With so many people showing interest in getting into Flight now have you felt it necessary to set up any sort of screening process or had to tell someone they weren’t ready?

When did you first start penning the adventures of Copper?

For those unfamiliar, tell us about your book Daisy Kutter.

Your contribution to Flight is large enough to warrant a one shot comic, but do you think stories like these can work outside an anthology? That perhaps some are better suited for a collected book?

Do you have plans to target specific creators for contributions to upcoming volumes of Flight?

Johane Matte:
How does working in a comics page compare to working in animation?

You tend to draw inspiration from old mythologies and fantasy, is this something carried over from childhood or more of an artistic discovery?

Are there any mythologies you find particularly stimulating?

Could you tell us about your series Horus?

Richard Pose:
I notice you like to use bold lines and elongated anatomy in your art, and were possibly influenced by Dungeons and Dragons at some point, maybe even a little bit of a Mark Andrews influence, who are some of your artistic inspirations?

What are some of your favoured experiences in the world of art? I see you’ve done everything from storyboards to comics, to face painting and caricatures.

Could you tell us about your project Smoke?

Doug Holgate:
You’ve got a very strong sense of layout – leading the eye from one point in the page to another, so I was kind of surprised to see you were a toy designer as opposed to something like storyboarding or animation. What lead you to that position?

You also do illustration pieces, who are some of your clients?

Tales From Under Your Bed was your big self-publishing venture this past year, do you intend on bringing this book to a North American audience?

Ryan Sias:
I’m not certain but you may be the only one here who’s worked on an Oscar award winning film. Could you tell us about your involvement in Bowling For Columbine and the forthcoming Robots?

Your work really tends to be young reader oriented, are children’s books something you’d ultimately like to move towards?

Tell us about Silent Kimbly

Nicolas Seigneret:
Bonjour Bannister. Or do you prefer Nikko now? What sort of differences do you notice between working for a European market vs. North American? Do you have a preference?

How has Manga influenced your work?

These days is your work more veered towards illustration projects?

Hope:
Hope, we all know you’re a star and it’s just a matter of time until everyone realizes it so let’s talk about some of your creative influences. Your sense of storytelling has a very fluid [whenever I use the word ‘fluid’ to describe someone’s art it’s a good thing] and natural flow, which not everyone can capture as well as you have, what inspired you in developing your artistic style?

Have you found that moving has affected your stories or art?

Kean:
Kean, baby, boobala, your stories always have a strong emphasis on natural emotion, I say natural because although they’re potent they remain relatable to the reader. Now when the thought of Flight may present some people with a fantastical head frame, you instead tend to veer towards humanistic and poetic, is this more of a theme in your work or just the stories you feel you need to tell?

Kean, you also have a strong sense of storytelling, I’m guessing you’re a Mignola fan?

Hope & Kean:
Secret Friend Society… Spill it. What’s up?

_________________
keaner.net
the secret friend society

1) How did you get involved with Flight?

I spent too much time online after work, posting drawings and comics. Eventually I got the crazy idea of recruiting a bunch of people I knew on the web onto a small book project that Catia Chien wanted to do, and this became Flight.


2) Tell us about your story and what inspired it?

The story I'm telling in Volume Two is a story about my own insecurities with speaking to pretty girls. Hehehe. I'm actually not as bad as the character in the comic, but I do delve pretty deep into what I think makes me so shy. While this is what lies at the heart of the story, the real inspiration for this comic was actually more in making stylistic choices. I was doodling around when I came up with a couple of images that I liked and started developing a small romance story about these two kids in a seaside village. The style of the drawings were a mix of Shel Silverstein and Akira Kurosawa. The more I worked on it, I realized I ended up being more influenced by artists like Yasujiro Ozu, Edward Gorey, and Craig Thompson. What began as an exercise in style eventually became one of the most painfully personal stories I've done. I suppose that when you're surrounded by a bunch of earnest super-talents, it's difficult not to pour your heart into the work.


3) One of strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

As Flight continues to grow, I realize more and more how different the artists are from each other. It makes it a little more difficult to keep everyone together, but so far we're still holding together, and I think the crew is even growing a lot stronger from it. Since it's also a huge part of my life now, I can't help but let it influence the stories I tell. Fortunately, I think my involvement makes me both a better storyteller and a better person.


4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book? [And just so you know – you all have something very distinct about your styles and your stories that make you perfect for being involved with Flight.]

Well, mine's pretty to look at, so it does help on the superficial level, but if someone gets into the story and takes something away from it, I'll be ecstatic. I attempted to explore a really difficult subject, so I hope that comes through...


5) What’s next for you following Flight? [Note-use this Q to pimp yourself to your hearts content – be sure to mention any websites or forthcoming projects you’d like to promote]

I suppose this is as good a place as any to announce this, so here it is... I have decided to take on the Flight project full-time, which means the very next thing I'll be doing will be in Flight Volume Three. I was in discussions to do a solo graphic novel, but after doing a lot of thinking, I decided instead to serialize it in the pages of Flight. This project has become something bigger than me in some ways, and I really enjoy being the editor, so I'm looking forward to pushing this book as far as it can go and with all the energy and resources I've got.



So for those still without the first volume how did the whole Flight book come together?

It started at APE in 2003, when Catia Chien convinced me to go and show my stuff at a small table with her and her friends. I went reluctantly, and I was overwhelmed by both the community and the response to my work. I didn't have much besides prints of my online comics to sell there, so we had it in mind to return the next year with a book to sell. We started gathering friends to collaborate on it, brought them together on our online forums to critique and encourage each other, and by the next year we had this crazy book. Erik Larsen saw it at APE, said he wanted to publish it on the spot, and here we are now with Volume Two, which is absolutely AMAZING. FLIGHT VOLUME TWO is quite simply the best comic book I have ever seen.



The amount of contributors you have definitely assures future volumes so how did you decide on having the second volume at a page count of 304 pages?

Hehehe. The funny thing is that this volume will likely reach just over 400 pages. That page count of 304 was actually a shot in the dark. I expected to have less than that at this point, but most everyone ended up delivering on the deadline, and they're amped to get working on their next story!!!



I know you pretty much let the contributors create to their hearts content but were there any restrictions put in place, to keep it suitable for an all ages audience for instance?

Hmm, we've had some lengthy discussions about this (in fact, they still continue). While I did not place any restrictions, there have been instances where I had to propose adjustments to make it more suitable for a more PG-13 audience. As time goes on, the need for restrictions will grow, but as we're still in the project's early stages, we're still trying to figure out where the line needs to be drawn. I actually enjoy seeing this part of the process, and it looks like we'll be coming to a consensus about the appropriateness of content real soon.


With so many people showing interest in getting into Flight now have you felt it necessary to set up any sort of screening process or had to tell someone they weren’t ready?

Since I decided Flight would be invite-only, I have stopped answering most requests to be on the book. Many of us spend enough time rooting around on the web, through bookstores, etc. to find the best artists. It's likely that if they do some work somewhere we know about it, and then I consider asking them to be on the project. The problem right now is that we almost have too many! My job grows more difficult as an editor as more people join the project, so I have become very selective. And yes, I have had to turn many people down. I even had to turn down stories by people who were invited to contribute.



When did you first start penning the adventures of Copper?

In 2002. I think I actually started on my birthday that year, in April.



For those unfamiliar, tell us about your book Daisy Kutter.

It's my first graphic novel. Daisy is also one of my favorite characters to write. She has so many problems, it's great! Putting together Daisy Kutter - The Last Train has been a tremendous learning experience for me, and I'm very happy with the way it all turned out. I still can't believe I finished a graphic novel! Anyway, I hope everyone out there picks it up. It is by far the most fun and entertaining thing I've ever produced, and I put a lot of heart in that one...


Your contribution to Flight is large enough to warrant a one shot comic, but do you think stories like these can work outside an anthology? That perhaps some are better suited for a collected book?

I think that these stories were made to be in this book, so it's difficult to determine how they would do on their own. Many of the artists are playing off each other, finding inspiration in each other's work, so it's difficult to separate that from the final product. I can't imagine my story for this book being in any other aside from a collected volume of my short stories done over the years. I even scrapped my original story idea to go with this one, just to suit the book, as soon as I saw it was going in a certain direction.


Do you have plans to target specific creators for contributions to upcoming volumes of Flight?

Not really. I'm most excited about watching the creators already on the project as they grow up and become better storytellers. Of course, it's always nice when some of your heroes (like Jeff Smith!) become a part of it. I mean, man, I'd love to see a Bill Watterson comic, or a Hayao Miyazaki story, somewhere in here, but for now that's just crazy talk. Hehe. I better stop thinking about that stuff and get back to work...

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Hey All
If anyone would prefer to just e-mail their answers to me directly they can do so at ellis@popimage.com

I will also be checking the board regularly

Kean mentioned some other people were interested in being involved with this roundtable interview - just speak up and let me know who you are and i'll be sure that i include some creator specific Q's for you as well - the general Q's are, of course, for everyone to answer

any questions or concerns - just let me know

BTW - Kazu gave me a sneak peek at some of the work going into this volume and it's all great

best

_________________
Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

1) How did you get involved with Flight?

Pre-Flight I’d had been somewhat in contact with Kazu and, to a greater extent, Neil, and girls (and boy) in Pants Press. When Kazu asked me to color Erika Moen’s comic, Faith, I happily agreed, and now here I am with a comic of my own in volume 2!

2) Tell us about your story and what inspired it?

I’m from North Carolina, and at the same time I was brainstorming for my Flight piece I was preparing to move to Toronto to be with my husband. I’d hoped to explore the southwest US after graduation, and it was pretty frustrating to see that replaced with yet more lake effect snow (I’d been at school in Rochester, NY and Chicago) and a pile of immigration paperwork. My story, Weather Vain, is about a girl who goes north and hates the cold. But it isn’t autobiographical—we’re moving to Halifax soon, and I can’t wait! Bring on the snow!

I’d like to point that Weather Vain is the last comic I drew in Illustrator, so you won’t be seeing anything quite like this from me again. I’ve spent the last few months struggling with a brush, which is much more fun and significantly quicker, once you get the hang of it.

3) One of strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

It’s great having a pool of smart people to give me feedback and help out with technical problems, and I’ve gotten to know some great folks I otherwise might not have.

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book? [And just so you know – you all have something very distinct about your styles and your stories that make you perfect for being involved with Flight.]

Well… It’s educational! And it’s got a very different look and structure from many of the stories: the palette is limited to red and blue, and there aren’t any panels to speak of.

5) What’s next for you following Flight? [Note-use this Q to pimp yourself to your hearts content – be sure to mention any websites or forthcoming projects you’d like to promote]

My “big project” of the moment is Salamander Dream, for the Secret Friend Society (http://www.secretfriendsociety.com). More on that later!

This spring and summer l’ll have short pieces in the Beguiling’s Free Comic Book Day comic book, in the first volume of anthology You Ain’t No Dancer (http://youaintnodancer.com/), and in True Porn 2 (http://www.trueporncomic.com/) if my submission is accepted. I’m also finishing up a tiny joint project with Meg from crossedfingers.net.

7) Hope, we all know you’re a star and it’s just a matter of time until everyone realizes it so let’s talk about some of your creative influences. Your sense of storytelling has a very fluid [whenever I use the word ‘fluid’ to describe someone’s art it’s a good thing] and natural flow, which not everyone can capture as well as you have, what inspired you in developing your artistic style?

Aw, thanks! I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from medieval art and manuscript illumination, which are often little comics in themselves. They don’t use conventions like panels and speech balloons, which is fascinating, and that’s what I originally tried to incorporate into my comics. The main drawback to working in this archaic style is that it’s difficult to express the passage of time, especially on a small scale. Now that my work is becoming more narrative I’ve begun using panels, and I’m working toward an amalgamation of medieval and modern visual ideas.

Have you found that moving has affected your stories or art?

Haha, yes! Weather Vain and Salamander Dream are both essentially about the things I miss about North Carolina, where I haven’t lived in over four years. But truthfully, everything in my life affects my stories and my art. It’s impossible to separate them. I just happen to have made a lot of big moves recently.

9) Secret Friend Society… Spill it. What’s up?

The Secret Friend Society (http://www.secretfriendsociety.com) is our joint comic project, and it’s finally launching on February 2nd. A couple months ago we realized we were both working on all-ages comics about children and their imaginary friends, and we’ve pooled our resources to create a site that will update Monday through Friday.

My SFS comic, Salamander Dream, follows the friendship of a girl named Hailey and her imaginary friend Salamander as they both grow up. It takes place entirely outdoors, so I’ve been drawing a lot of trees and… trees. SD will update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have a four-month backlog at the moment, so I promise that schedule will stick!

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I hope that was somewhat lucid. Thank you, Jon!

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hopelarson.com
the secret friend society

1) How did you get involved with Flight?

Well, it started with an innocent little email from Kazu two years ago -- we had been corresponding a little after reading and enjoying each other's webcomics -- when he asked me if I'd like to contribute a story to "a little black and white anthology" that he and a couple of friends were putting together. I said yes, and that, as they say, was that.


2) Tell us about your story and what inspired it?

My story is called "Last Things Last," and it's basically another one in my series of Exit Music comics, which is a collection of little autobiographical stories and snippets from my life that I've been working on for the past year or so now. It's a quiet little story about a friend that passed away several years ago.


3) One of strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

Without a doubt, it seems like every single artist with Flight has influenced my work in some way. Simply getting feedback from such a large and diverse group of artists has helped me learn so much in such a short span of time, and I'm incredibly thankful to each and every one of them. But to put it another way, all of the artists on Flight have pulled me right out of my comfort zone and forced me to put in 110% into my own work. The fact that there are so many artists constantly pushing each other and raising and then re-raising the bar with every single story, you can't help but be forced to try and raise your own game to match theirs.


4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book?

In terms of content, it's probably more introspective and definitely one of the quieter pieces in the book. I suppose your could say it fills the "emo" void of Flight.


5) What's next for you following Flight?

More Flight! Heh. Actually, I do have a couple more Exit Music stories coming later in the year for both my website (keaner.net) and in a couple of anthologies (most notably for the first issue of You Ain't No Dancer). I think I'd like to finish my collection of Exit Music comics by the end of 2005 (I have about 5 stories still waiting to be drawn), but I'm also working on my first full-length comic "Jellaby," which will be serialized on the web over at The Secret Friend Society (secretfriendsociety.com).



Kean, baby, boobala, your stories always have a strong emphasis on natural emotion, I say natural because although they're potent they remain relatable to the reader. Now when the thought of Flight may present some people with a fantastical head frame, you instead tend to veer towards humanistic and poetic, is this more of a theme in your work or just the stories you feel you need to tell?

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love science fiction and fantasy, but I'm pretty terrible at writing it, so I'm more than happy to step aside and let the experts do what they do best. I think in the case of my story for Flight 2, it's definitely a story I needed to get out of me. I'm usually more interested in trying to understand how people think and behave, and I think that regardless of the genre, it always comes back to how the audience relates to the characters and the meat of the story itself, so those are the things I really try to focus on when I'm telling a story. Everything else is just gravy, really.



Kean, you also have a strong sense of storytelling, I'm guessing you're a Mignola fan?

Oh yeah, absolutely. His layouts and some of the things he does with those 'pillow shots' (visual breaks) peppered throughout his stories never cease to amaze me. Like Kazu though, a lot of my influences lately have also been drawn from outside of comics -- filmmakers Wong Kar-Wai and Yasujiro Ozu have made a big impact on me, and I distinctly remember looking at a number of Monet paintings as I was finishing up the colours for my Flight 2 story...



Secret Friend Society... Spill it. What’s up?

Heh. Hope pretty much covered it all. My comic, "Jellaby," is about a girl who finds a giant monster lost in the woods and decides to take him home with her. It's probably the antithesis of "Salamander Dream," where Hope's story takes place almost exclusively outdoors, my story is (for the most part) set in large urban areas and is based on my experiences growing up in big cities. This comic is also a pretty big departure for me, as I'm moving away from these short little autobiographical comics to long-form fiction. It's incredibly exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

And Jon, you're right about what you said earlier about Hope. She's totally a rockstar, and I honestly think that "Salamander Dream" will be the story that'll make people sit up and take notice. So hopefully I can ride her coattails for a little while longer.

_________________
keaner.net
the secret friend society

General Q’s:
1) How did you get involved with Flight?
I think it was about 12 months ago, just before Flight #1 went to print, Kazu dropped me a line asking if I would be interested in contributing to Book #2 of a comics anthology he was putting together. This was kinda before the Flight buzz took off (HAH!) so it was pretty exciting watching book #1 evolve and extremely flattering...especially coming from being a fan of a lot of the guys involved and then to all of a sudden be alongside them.

2) Tell us about your story and what inspired it?
My story is a re-history(?) of what might have happened to Laika, the first dog in space, launched by the Russians during the space race in the 50’s and 60’s. The germ of the idea began with a painting I had done of Laika sharing a vodka with a space god for an Outer Space exhibition about a year ago. When it came time to start thinking of something for Flight, she popped up again and pretty much fell into place. Her story is really quite sad and moved me to I guess explore what would happen if she just kept floating out into space.
It’s a bit of rumination on politics, on how destructive and paranoid the human race can be, and how extreme advances in technology are not necessarily the answer to solving these problems. At it’s heart though it’s a fun little doggie adventure.

3) One of strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?
For me it’s just been great over the last 12 months to be surrounded by this incredible group of smart, ridiculously talented creative people. Especially in regard comics, I’ve never really been exposed to such introspection and analysis of every aspect of the comic medium from so many different points of view. The fact that each time one of these guys steps up to the plate it’s pushing the envelope that little bit more, most cases in ways you wouldn’t expect, you can’t help but want to push yourself that bit more to keep up.

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book? [And just so you know – you all have something very distinct about your styles and your stories that make you perfect for being involved with Flight.]
Laika was one of the hardest comics I’ve ever put together. Wanting every part to be the best i could muster. Especially story wise...writing for me is always a bit of a struggle, it’s usually something that comes very spontaneously where I just sit down, draw and let the characters do what they do. I sometimes write out a plot or some scene ideas but very rarely an entire script or a specific conclusion. With Laika (After some discussion with the Flight Crew) I went back and rethought and redrew the entire closing sequence (8 pages) because the original wasn’t sitting right. It’s a definite departure from how I normally work and I feel one of my most successful stories, hopefully it translates and is stronger for it.

5) What’s next for you following Flight? [Note-use this Q to pimp yourself to your hearts content – be sure to mention any websites or forthcoming projects you’d like to promote
I’m about 10 pages into ‘Heidi Hyperwarp’, an all ages sci-fi/western/crime graphic novel with writer Jai Nitz. Hopefully out mid to late this year through Image Comics.
I’m illustrating a series of kids books on odd or unusual facts about Australia's aviating, prehistoric, sporting and inventive histories. with writer Kevin Patrick (To be published early 2006).
And then hopefully a little something something for Flight #3.

Specific Creator Questions -
You’ve got a very strong sense of layout – leading the eye from one point in the page to another, so I was kind of surprised to see you were a toy designer as opposed to something like storyboarding or animation. What lead you to that position?
Ah thankyou. I kind of happened upon the toy stuff completely by accident. I just answered an advertisement for a studio based in Sydney a few years ago looking for black and white cartoonists to do finished illustrations for presentations. Which was kind of true but failed to mention the concepting, engineering and technical knowledge you would need in designing toys. So it was a surprise and a bit of a baptism of fire. But good fun and while 80% of the work was toy or premium based some of it was design for presentations, comics and illustration for books and promotions etc.

You also do illustration pieces, who are some of your clients?
The most well known global clients would be companies like Qantas International and Hungry Jacks. The rest are various magazine and book publishers here in Australia and in the States such as Funtastic, Weekly Reader and Simon and Schuster.

Tales From Under Your Bed was your big self-publishing venture this past year, do you intend on bringing this book to a North American audience?
Yep. I’m currently working on plans to solicit the first book through Diamond under Jai Nitz’s Jungle Boy Press later this year. Hopefully if I find the time and it goes well I will put together some new stories too.

Thanks for the questions Jon. If you need any follow up or want me to elaborate let me know.

d.

General Q’s:
1) How did you get involved with Flight?

Shortly before Flight found its publisher, I registered to the forums to reply to a thread. Kazu then sent me a pm giving me access to the private forums which completely threw me off! I was bit of a fan girl since I loved a lot of the cartoonists in it already and I think I stumbled over myself several times trying to post in those forums. Eventually Kazu was nice enough to ask if I wanted to contribute to a future volume. Of course I said yes! I don't think it's really sunk in still that I drew something for this book, everyone involved is so amazing!

2) Tell us about your story and what inspired it?

The story I drew for this book is a short side story from my online comic, Reman Mythology. I wanted to delve into the relationship between two of my main characters, Raed and Philip, and also say a little something about how actions speak louder than words when it comes to gaining acceptance from your parents/teachers. I'm not sure if I was successful, but I'm glad I made this little comic and I'm happy with the way it turned out. I learned so much about laying out action, coloring, and pacing.

3) One of strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

Knowing how hard everyone was working to make something amazing, I knew I had to put all my effort into it as well if I wasn't to let the others down. This expectation of doing the best you could (whether real or imagined) really pushed me to try harder, and I think my skills really increased because of it.

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book? [And just so you know – you all have something very distinct about your styles and your stories that make you perfect for being involved with Flight.]

I think my piece has the heaviest anime influence in the way that people typically think that cartoons from Japan should look. This shows not only in the way I draw the faces but in the panel layouts of the action sequences. Even though I haven't been a fan of anime since high school, the influence was strong enough to last. I think the growing influence of manga in kids today will definitely show up more frequently in comics in the coming years, so I'm glad to represent a bit of that in Flight, and hopefully in a way that manages to still remain unique.

5) What’s next for you following Flight? [Note-use this Q to pimp yourself to your hearts content – be sure to mention any websites or forthcoming projects you’d like to promote]

Currently, my main project is a new book for Tokyopop that I've been having fun writing and drawing called "Sorcerers & Secretaries". I'm going to try my best to continue contributing to Flight, as well as continue working on my epic online comic as always (at http://www.felaxx.com).


Thanks for the questions Jon! If you have any others let me know. =D

Hey Amy - Kean told me you were interested - right after this post i'll come up with some specific Q's for you as well

that said - anyone else who'd like to get involved with this interview, just jump right in

but for now: Follow-ups

Kazu

re: new page count

FOLLOWUP: Is the price point changing to meet this new page count?


Hope

FOLLOWUP: You’ve been working with Oni for a while now so the idea of an original graphic novel must have come up. Have you put any thought towards that?

FOLLOWUP: You mentioned earlier you’re moving from Illustrator to the brush, usually it’s the other way around. When did you begin utilizing a computer in creating your art?

BTW – Hope & Kean – if you’re doing more Kid-centric stuff – have you thought of showing your stuff to http://www.owlkids.com/ - they have three mags and publish Jay Stephens and Sam Hiti stuff

Hope – I’ve always thought it’d make a great experiment to do a comic completely without panels – though very few people come to mind who could pull it off – Sam Salgood is one, Gareth Hinds is another – who’s done some great pages in adapting King Lear – Andy Lee might be another – so being able to pull it off is really an achievement – also – check out this site for some old pics: http://fantastic.library.cornell.edu/ - if you go to ‘view all images’ on page 4 there’s some particularly nice stuff – a woman ensnared by thorns looking towards a sacred heart and a demon popping bubbles that an angel is blowing


Kean

FOLLOWUP: Though this isn’t your first exposure to Monet, you actually grew up influenced by his work correct?

FOLLOWUP: When did the Exit Music series of stories begin?

FOLLOWUP: Right now you’ve got the minicomics available for sale on your website, but have you thought of maybe combining them and soliciting through Diamond? In fact – I say this to everyone here – Xeric Foundation – I expect you all to pitch something


Doug

FOLLOWUP: How does the toy work compare to your own work? For instance, some company projects will have a set artistic style and all artists would have to meet that style, despite having a unique style of their own.

FOLLOWUP: You’re also doing a graphic novel with Jai which you mentioned earlier, how did you two hook up for this project?

best

_________________
Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

FOLLOWUP: Is the price point changing to meet this new page count?



Nope.

_________________

Dear Jonathan Ellis


Thanks for the interview! Let me know if something doesn’t make sense, I’ve been working too much recently.



1) How did you get involved with Flight?

I was a fan of Copper, and emailed Kazu, and he liked my Kimbly comics.

2) Tell us about your story and what inspired it?

My story is about a green girl who drinks Blip pop, and then has an adventure above the clouds with various monsters.

My inspiration comes from when I walk around the streets here in NYc; advertisers are always trying t push products on you. So I thought what if one of those products was a drink that made you fly. I also wanted to draw monsters, I always like drawing monsters. Plus I wanted to do something light and fun. I feel the world is a very serious place right now, so I wanted to some enjoyable and silly.


3) One of strongest things the Flight anthology has going for it is its sense of community in drawing so many creative people from different walks of life all under one banner. How has this implication of convergence influenced you or affected your work?

Yeah that what I Really like about it, is the international flavor. It’s so great to have a group of people with so many different points of view give you suggestions or opinions. Plus, because they are all so amazing they pushed me to do great work. My favorite part of it all is the great forum. On most forums they are all about tearing people down, flight forum is one of the few place where the are helpful and give good suggestions, if something has problems they let you know, but constructively. Which is a great thing!

4) How do you feel your piece contributes to the overall quality and diversity of this book? [And just so you know – you all have something very distinct about your styles and your stories that make you perfect for being involved with Flight.]

My stuff is goofy and wacky; I like to think I add humor, humor and monsters! That’s what I add! Oh and green girls they didn’t have enough green girls.

5) What’s next for you following Flight? [Note-use this Q to pimp yourself to your hearts content – be sure to mention any websites or forthcoming projects you’d like to promote]

I’m always posting new comics on my www.silentkimlby.com site, and right now I’m finishing off a 76-page silent kimbly graphic novel. (Which doesn’t have a publisher yet) I’m also pitching some TV shows and, working on a few kid’s books.

I’m not certain but you may be the only one here who’s worked on an Oscar award winning film. Could you tell us about your involvement in Bowling For Columbine and the forthcoming Robots?

Bowling for columbine was a weird random thing, I was a friend with a guy that was friends with the editor. They were looking for an illustrator, so being a Big Michael Moore fan I sent my stuff in and got chosen. I worked with Mr. Moore for a few months on and off. He’s great and just like he on screen. I did all the character and BG designs and did a lot of the early storyboarding. Wining the Oscar was amazing though very unreal. I was watching at home, we all (the crew) didn’t think we had a snowball's chance in hell. Mainly because we didn’t think the academy would give Michael a live mike on national TV. So when we own, I got all light headed and spaced out. Then my phone started ringing, it was very exciting. I still can’t belie that I worked on Oscar winning documentary myself. That’s one of those things I never even conceived could happen.

About a week after Bowling came out I got a call from 20th century fox, and asked me if I could come up to work on Robots. For Robots I was doing storyboards, and mainly adding gags to sequences. I would write/draw about 20 jokes to get that ONE good joke; it was really an eye opener to how much work it took to get something really funny. One of the coolest parts was working with so many amazing artists, and work on this Fantastic film. My hope is that Robots get nominated for an Oscar so I can brag about how every film I work on gets nominated or wins! Hahahaah……

Your work really tends to be young reader oriented, are children’s books something you’d ultimately like to move towards?

Yeah, I want to get into do kids books, but more like little graphic novels more like “captain underpants”. That’s what I’m working on next!

Tell us about Silent Kimbly

Silent Kimbly came from my love of buster keton and Japanese pop art. I wanted to set up a situation where I could do ANYTHING. So kimbly is sci-fi little girl who has the power to change things with her mind. There are usually monsters around and a lot of surreal stuff. I originally had planed on doing kimbly as a month comic, but I got reject by everyone. Then someone mentioned they might be interested in putting it out if it were a graphic novel. Then I spent the last year trying to get that done around work. In that time I started the webpage to start to get people excited for the graphic novel.
Kimbly is a style thing to me, it is where I can go and let my mind wander and my doodling take over. To see more come to www.silentkimlby.com!

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Kazu: Excellent

Amy, here's some Q's just for you:

Now you brought up your webcomic Reman Mythology, so take us through the story here. The who’s and what’s?

How will the short in the Flight anthology tie into the regular Reman series?

You mention the manga and anime influence, but always remaining unique which is really the most important thing for people with that sort of influence. There are a lot of people with the same influence who will only end up mimicking what they’ve already seen and that just doesn’t help anyone. What other sort of influences helped you to develop your style? Carla Speed McNeil certainly shows in RM, though it was interested to read you were also influenced by Jim Lee.

How did attending SVA help you develop your art? I think it’s a common inside joke that a lot of aspiring comic artists tend to drop out after the first year, if they make it that far.

I’m not sure which is cooler, being in Flight or having your own title with TokyoPop. How did you land that gig?

On top of all these projects you’re also an illustrator and animator for Gamelab. Is this a sort of come-and-go as you please job ‘cause with all these projects you’ve got a lot on your plate?

ltr

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

Well, I’ve been lettering for them, which doesn’t really parlay itself into offers for publication. I love Oni dearly, and all the folks I’ve dealt with there are wonderful people (especially James Lucas Jones), but I honestly don’t think my work is right for them.

I’d love to see Salamander Dream (which should clock in around 100 pages) published, though--especially if I could wrangle a spot color out of somebody! I may end up trying for a Xeric.



Is it really? I can’t imagine anyone going from the freedom of a brush to slavish point-by-point manipulation. I’ve been using computers for art since seventh or eighth grade, and they’re indispensable tools for me.



I definitely will!



Now I wish I’d learned more about lithography! Those arcane decoding wheels are pretty amazing.

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hopelarson.com
the secret friend society

Hey Ryan

here's some followup Q's:

FOLLOWUP: With Scholastic turning towards doing some graphic novels themselves have you thought of pitching to them? [the new coloured bone they released looks great consequently]

FOLLOWUP: With Robots, were you working through to the recording stage as well?


best

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

to me it just seems more natural to begin with traditional items of art before learning to use a computer - all through high school we only ever used a computer once - to scan pieces of art we made so we could print them off for t-shirts

which may contribute to my amazement at how far and well younger artists have been able to create and make an impression

best

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Jonathan Ellis
Co-Editor in Chief - PopImage.com

Follow up:

Yeah,i know of a few other publsihing houses that are doing "kid" grpahic novels. Scholastic is on the top of my list of people to send stuff to. I'm also on the hunt for an agent to help me naviagte the wild word of kids publshing. (since i dont know anyone at scholastic)

yes, i was working on robots during recording. in fact for one of my gags i wrote a bunch of lines for Robin williams to say. that was pretty cool, i got to hear him say my lines. of coruse he came up with something MORE funny that what i had written but it was really cool to be part of the process.

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